In Lebanon, Hezbollah is nowhere near ready to surrender. To end a war which has now been dragging on for 58 years, somebody’s ass has got to, finally, be whupped.

Who is that more likely to be? Do you hear anyone calling on the Hezbollah guerrillas to show more “restraint” as they overrun large portions of Israel?

Not now, you say? When better? After Iran has started supplying Hezbollah with nukes?

Today, Hezbollah and Hamas have a problem. All their planning was based on the fact that the world and the United States have never allowed Israel to really win a war — they always call a cease-fire after a maximum of 20 days.

Can anyone see the terrorists looking around now, wondering when they get their next three years off for rest, refit and resupply? “Hey, it’s been the full three weeks. Guys? Anyone? Hello?”

We started out saying war is horrible and is to be avoided whenever possible. But there is a corollary doctrine. If you want a generation of peace, those who launch wars have to be shown this, good and hard.

Short, sharp wars have not brought Israel peace, only the conditions for long, bloody guerilla campaigns. This time may be different. There’s a great deal more clarity about the region now then there was a month ago. It is very difficult for any serious observor to believe that this is about the West Bank or the two state solution. This is about Iran’s mullahs and a fanatical hatred of Israel and the U.S. This clarity is having an amazing and profound effect on the world, especially on America, the first glimmers of which are beginning to emerge. Hezbollah has launched thousands of rockets and missiles at civilians with the intention of killing civilians. There’s a terrible reality behind that horror which the West has got to grasp. There are signs we are, at last, getting it.